5th Class were delighted to visit Custume Barracks in Athlone, on Monday 14th March.

We did so at the invitation of Commandant Joe Freeley, a past pupil of our school.  Our Liaison officers for the day were Commandant Freeley, Conor Laffey, another Kiltimagh native & Kevin Moran who has local connections to our school.

We saw the rescue helicopter which acts as an air ambulance and were told if a call came in we would have to run away straight away to allow for an immediate lift off!!!We climbed up into several tanks to explore them further and saw a variety of weapons in a display especially organised for us.

Another highlight was performing ‘Amhrán na bhFiann’ on our tin-whistles to the applause of the Army Band. They played a number of tunes to us and even put our marching skills to the test. Of course after all the practice over the past few weeks…we passed with flying colours!

We were told the history of the Barracks and got to ask lots of questions of all the Defence Forces personnel we met. We would like to thank Commandant Freeley and his colleagues for the great welcome we received and the hospitality shown us.

We had a fantastic time and stopped off at Supermacs on the way home for well deserved ice-cream sundaes! A great day all round and a fun way to kick off the 1916 celebrations this week!

Have a look at some pictures below to see how we got on!